


london, d.c.

by midnightweeds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Bad Order of the Phoenix, Betrayal, Corruption, Deception, F/M, Romance, Suggestive Themes, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25902946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightweeds/pseuds/midnightweeds
Summary: hermione falls in love with blaise and decides to do the ‘right’ thingdetective/gangster au
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Blaise Zabini
Kudos: 14





	1. part one

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr: midnightmilkteas.tumblr.com   
>  i couldn’t decide where to set the story so i blended london, england and washington, dc. and that became the name

Hermione folded her arms over her chest as the wind picked up, standing a little straighter against the Charger when she noticed Blaise and his partner leaving the hospital.

It took a moment for him to see her, pausing in the middle of the street, and Goyle only frowned, eyes sliding over her as though he was committing her to memory. She watched as Blaise waved him off, back into the hospital, as he made his way over to her.

“Granger,” he greeted, leaning next to her. He drew his arm over the top of his car. “What a pleasure.”

“Cut the crap.”

He grinned, too handsome for his own good, but Hermione knew him too well now. She doubted he even realized. The hurt he attempted to bury seemed to shine in his dark eyes.

“I thought I told you I didn’t want to see you again,” he reminded her, but the way he looked her negated the statement.

She pulled her shoulders closer to her ears, looking back at the hospital as she considered her next words. The last thing she ever wanted was to be here with him. It would have been easier- rather, it _should_ have been easier-

“No,” she told him. “I told you that. Remember?” She met his eye evenly, squaring her jaw. “You told me you’d arrest me.”

Blaise laughed, shifting closer to her. He took a deep breath in, and she did, too, swallowing down the warm patchouli beneath the smell of the hospital. “What do you want?”

“Is he going to make it?”

He sighed, drawing his hand over his face. His badge flashed at his hip, the gold drawing her gaze against his black clothes. “Malfoy put him in an induced coma.”

She gave a small cry, turning her face away from him. “I thought…You were right, Blaise. He isn’t…good. He isn’t good.”

He drew his thumb along her jaw, gently forcing her to look at him again.

“I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“They kept you blinded, cara. It isn’t your fault.”

She laughed, short and cold. “It is.”

“What are you going to do about it, then?”

He held her gaze, just as curious as he was willing her to do that right thing. But, Hermione didn’t need any encouragement. Not anymore.

In the distance, Big Ben announced the midnight hour.

“What do you need me to do?”


	2. part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if things don't add up don't think about it too much,

Hermione followed Blaise through the warehouse, her heart pounding harder with each step. Betrayal threatened to overwhelm her, clogging her throat and blurring her vision. She hardly realized that she’d followed her old lover into a back room until she heard the door locking behind them.

Forcing herself to relax, she looked over her shoulder to see a tall, burly man staring down at her, a wolfish smirk on his face. She couldn’t suppress that shiver that ran through her, though she wasn’t sure if it was from his gaze or the chill of the room.

“Zabini.”

She felt her blood boil at the sound of his voice and suppressed the urge to grab her gun.

“Riddle.”

Her skin crawled when her eyes met Tom Riddle’s.

“Have you brought us a gift?” He asked, his voice falsely jovial. “Or a prisoner?”

Blaise chuckled, pulling a chair from the table. “Neither,” he replied, surely. “Have a seat, Granger.”

“Neither,” Riddle repeated, watching Blaise as he sat down next to her. His eyes landed back on Hermione coldly, lip curled in dissatisfaction.

She was surprised at how comfortable they were together, and even more so when she pulled her eyes off Riddle to find the Chief of Police sitting at the table with them. After a moment, she decided that it wasn’t so surprising, after all. Riddle had risen to power too quickly to have done it without help.

“Then what, pray tell, are we doing here?” Riddle sighed, rapping his fingers against the table.

Hermione ignored him, watching the chief instead.

Gellert Grindelwald watched her blankly in return, neither trust nor distrust in his gaze. She’d never met him for herself, but she’d heard enough about him to know that he wasn’t one to be toyed with.

Even if every other aspect of her time –her _life_ \- with the Order was a lie, she understood that Grindelwald was an undeniable truth. She felt it around him.

“I thought you’d failed us, Detective-Sergeant,” Grindelwald said, the ghost of an accent in his throat. “Thought we’d have to throw a great mind in jail.”

She clenched her jaw, remembering that Blaise told her not to speak unless directly spoken to.

“Who is she for?” Riddle asked impatiently, dark pleasure in his eyes.

Hermione remembered the last time she’d seen him. He’d held a knife to her throat in the back of a club, his cock hard against her thigh as he told her how badly he’d wanted to kill her. Being in the same room with him now left her sick to her stomach, worsening the emotions that continued to threaten to spill over.

Blaise looked over at her, his gaze far softer than it should have been.

She felt the ghost his lips on her neck and hands on her hips as though it hadn’t been months since she’d last felt him.

“All mine,” he murmured, the words like a warm caress.

She smiled, feeling her cheeks warm, but Riddle’s hiss of displeasure ruined the moment- a moment that shouldn’t be happening, she reminded herself.

“Jail, it seems, then?” He looked at Grindelwald boredly. “Shame.” He wrapped his fingers against the table. “A waste of time, as well, Zabini.”

The chief patted Riddle’s hand, pacifying him. “Hermione Jean Granger,” he commented thoughtfully. “Dumbledore’s little lioness.”

“I belong to myself.”

Blaise grinned, relaxing in his seat. His leg fell heavy against hers, warm and assuring. She wondered if he knew she wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. He should have.

“I know you do, Miss Granger. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Her throat felt swollen, thick and hot with the reminder of her betrayal. With her lies. Her failure.

She was grateful to every god that existed when she didn’t begin to cry in front of them.

Blaise shifted, as though he knew, observing his nails the way he always did when he was ignoring something.

“I’d hoped you’d grow your claws a little sooner- before.”

“I’m happy to take her,” Riddle leaned back in his seat, eyes back on her.

“Hermione Granger is her own woman, Riddle,” Grindelwald reminded.

She wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or not.

“Before what?” She questioned, glancing at Blaise.

He didn’t meet her eye, causing her to grow more annoyed with him.

“Before we made our move, love,” Riddle told her.

She realized that Nott being in a coma may not have been the Order’s doing. That Blaise’s ‘truth’ on the ride over was a pacifier and nothing else. It almost made it easier-

“I have a plan,” Blaise cut in, annoyance in his voice. “Twenty-four hours.”

She clenched her jaw, crossing her legs. Twenty-four hours had been a joke. Blaise knew- he knew it’d been her attempting to rationalize her life now. Attempting to make sense of the world without wool over her eyes.

“Excuse me?” Riddle narrowed his gaze at them.

“I’m going to kill Dumbledore,” she told them, taking over the conversation.

Behind her, someone barked out a laugh.

“And I’m going to ruin the Order.”

“They are one in the same,” Riddle told her confidently.

He didn’t notice Grindelwald cut his eyes at him, but Hermione did. She smirked at the younger man, folding her arms against the tabletop. “You’re a fool if you think someone Dumbledore’s age doesn’t have a successor. Doesn’t mentor.”

She looked between Grindelwald and Riddle. “You all have each other, don’t you?” Her eyes refocused on Riddle with a shrug, “And you may be his favorite, but you are not his only, _love._ ”

Riddle clenched his jaw, tapping his fingers against the table as he watched her.

“So, I will kill Dumbledore, and break the Order.” She glanced at her watch. “It’ll be done before tomorrow’s sunrise.”

“Then why are you here?” Riddle questioned.

Grindelwald positioned his jaw in his hand, fingers against his lips as he watched her.

“Protection,” she shrugged. “After. I’m doing you a favor, by the way,” she told Grindelwald. “Trust me.

“I don’t want to go to jail for what may happen. And,” she looked at Riddle, “I don’t want any problems with your…men, when it’s done.”

Riddle smirks. “It isn’t them you need to worry about.”

She swallowed, looking down at the table for a moment. As she relaxed back in her seat, Hermione said, “London is yours when it’s over. All of Hogwarts’ wards.”

It felt disgusting to say.

London had always been the Order’s. Hogwarts had always been hers.

“Done,” Grindelwald said. His gaze was surprisingly curious.

Hermione felt everything go quiet.

“Let me know what you may need, Miss Granger,” he continued, standing up from the table. “I’ve waited a long time for this moment. What’s mine is yours.”

Riddle didn’t say anything more, getting up from the table to follow the chief out. Before they left, the men guarding the door leaving with them, Grindelwald turned to Hermione and Blaise.

“Excellent job, Zabini.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you set me up!”

Hermione shoved Blaise once they were alone, her emotions boiling over. “You set me up, Blaise! I’d never do that to you! I thought-”

She got up, pacing the room. “I thought we had an understanding- even when it ended, I really thought-”

Blaise got up as well, cutting her off as he took her face in his hands. “Did you mean it?”

“Of course I’m going to kill him!”

“That isn’t what I’m talking about.”

She frowned, growing distracted by his thumb against her lip. “Blaise-”

“That smile- I remember.” He leaned closer, breathing her in. “How could I forget?”

She watched him, swallowing down the lump in her throat. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She wouldn’t be able-

“Did you mean it?” His voice was quiet, settling over her like the morning sun.

Hermione swallowed, feeling the warmth of his body enveloping her. “Did you?” She looked up at him, surprised at how quickly she calmed in his hold.

“There were a lot of lies,” he reminded her.

It nearly broke her heart, remembering how they ended. Why they’d ended- it’d been her fault, then, and it’d be hers now.

“Look at me.”

She hadn’t realized she’d looked away.

He kissed her, quick and soft and sure. “Me loving you wasn’t one of them, Hermione.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!  
> xo, weeds
> 
> (this is a part of me moving all my fics to ao3  
> i currently only write for haikyuu and bnha)


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